Ok SF, I feel I know what I'm talking about on this one as I've had a lot of experience. Kids, my advice to you today is please don't drink in your life if you can avoid it, or unless you have to. And I say 'have to' because I know their are many reasons why people drink, good and bad, where sometimes it's a necessity more than a choice.
But unchecked mental illness and alcohol/substances will eventually backfire on you, and that's what I'm talking about. I'll put it like this, "Don't try to deal with one wrong by creating another one." Does that make sense? Much of my drinking when I was younger was because I grew up in an alcohol heavy environment, and I was very angry about my situation. I also had absolutely no coping skills or knowledge of how to deal with back then, so I went to alcohol. Drunk driving, smashing up cars, my face, broken stuff, missing stuff, tickets, foolish drunk actions, etc. That part of it was not worth it, I can assure you. I've had many great 'highs' and memories from alcohol, don't get me wrong. And I often say, I might be glad I did those things once at the time, but given the choice would not repeat myself. Trust me, the 'lows' you will get from trying to mask depression with booze can be hellish though. Life changing in a second, for the worse. You may not care about your life, but please consider others. I had to learn that, and although I've suffered much I know it could have been worse.
So, rather than sound like a hypocrite or something, if you want to go out and do something then go ahead. I'm just saying what happened to me. If you are going to drink, please stay away from hard liquor. You don't need to get that buzzed to have a good time, trust me. You'll just end up going into the 'stupid zone' where anything can happen then, most likely not being a good outcome for you. Also, if you are going to drink watch the kind of clients you surround yourself with, be aware there may be some bad intentions or temptations. Don't knowingly put yourself in a bad situation. Do you know what I mean by that? In other words, don't set yourself up for failure by chancing something that just isn't worth it. Well, I could go on and on about alcohol(mostly what not to do) but I think you get my point. This message is mostly for preventing alcohol abuse and dependency, not what to do if you're already addicted. That is something different I will save for another day, but I hope this is helpful to someone.
But unchecked mental illness and alcohol/substances will eventually backfire on you, and that's what I'm talking about. I'll put it like this, "Don't try to deal with one wrong by creating another one." Does that make sense? Much of my drinking when I was younger was because I grew up in an alcohol heavy environment, and I was very angry about my situation. I also had absolutely no coping skills or knowledge of how to deal with back then, so I went to alcohol. Drunk driving, smashing up cars, my face, broken stuff, missing stuff, tickets, foolish drunk actions, etc. That part of it was not worth it, I can assure you. I've had many great 'highs' and memories from alcohol, don't get me wrong. And I often say, I might be glad I did those things once at the time, but given the choice would not repeat myself. Trust me, the 'lows' you will get from trying to mask depression with booze can be hellish though. Life changing in a second, for the worse. You may not care about your life, but please consider others. I had to learn that, and although I've suffered much I know it could have been worse.
So, rather than sound like a hypocrite or something, if you want to go out and do something then go ahead. I'm just saying what happened to me. If you are going to drink, please stay away from hard liquor. You don't need to get that buzzed to have a good time, trust me. You'll just end up going into the 'stupid zone' where anything can happen then, most likely not being a good outcome for you. Also, if you are going to drink watch the kind of clients you surround yourself with, be aware there may be some bad intentions or temptations. Don't knowingly put yourself in a bad situation. Do you know what I mean by that? In other words, don't set yourself up for failure by chancing something that just isn't worth it. Well, I could go on and on about alcohol(mostly what not to do) but I think you get my point. This message is mostly for preventing alcohol abuse and dependency, not what to do if you're already addicted. That is something different I will save for another day, but I hope this is helpful to someone.